Cotton-opener



(No' Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

R KITSON COTTON OPENER.

No. 245,923. Patented Aug. 16,1881.

Wxbnaasm (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet; 2.

R. KITSON.

COTTON OPENER Patented Aug. 16,1881.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

R. KITSON.

COTTON OPENER.

Patented Aug. 16,1881.

a wmw N. PETERS, vmmmm m hlv, Washington. 0. c

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrce.

RICHARD KITSON, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

COTTON-OPENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,923, dated August16, 1881.

Application filed May 21, 1880. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, RICHARD KITSON, ofLowell, Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement inCotton-Openers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines designed. to take the cotton or otherfiber received in bunches or masses and open it out to form a laptherefrom.

The object of my improvement is to deliver to the beaterof such amachine an even and regular quantity of fiber, and to provide such afeed mechanism as will adapt the machine to open fibers matted togetherby coloring processes and fibers not hitherto possible to practicallyoperate upon in the opener.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar letters indicate likeparts, Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, ofa machineembodying myimprovements. Fig.2 is an end elevation ofthe lever evenermechanism seen in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a side elevation.

A is the frame of the machine. 0 C are evener-levers; c,thefeed-roll;H,aworm-wheel placed upon the shaft of roll 0; h, a worm engaging withthe wheel H and attached to the top of the shaft of the cone I. j is abelt, through which motion is communicated to the cone I from the coneJ. J is a cone, driven with a regular rotary movement from anyconvenient mill-shaft by a belt (not shown) which passes over the pulleyupon the lower end of its shaft.

1 l are belt-shippers, whose belt-forks raise or lower the belt upon thecones with each movement given them. These belt-shippers are made tomove together by having upon their shorterjarms toothed arc-pieces whichengage the one with the other.

m n is a bell-crank lever, the arm m of which is connected to one of thebelt-shippers, and the arm n is connected by the bar 0 to one of thewedge-ended connecting-rods lifted by the levers C. All these rods bearagainst the one to which the bar 0 is connected through one another andsmall spreader-pieces placed between them.

All these parts are constructed, connected, and operated substantiallyin the manner described in Patent No. 52,008, issued January 9, 1866.

When any sheet of cotton is fed between the feed-roll c and the levers Othe sheet will be firmly pressed against the roll 0, and anyirregularity in the sheet will cause a movement of one or more of thelevers, and a corresponding movement through the connecting parts iscommunicated to the belt-shippers, by which the belt is moved up or downupon the cones, and a corresponding change made in the speed with whichthe cone I, worm h, wheel H, and feed-roll c are driven, in the samemanner as described in said patent.

B is a gage-box, into which the cotton is fed, either by hand or by afeed-apron, upon which it is placed.

a a are grasping-rolls, which take the cotton as it is fed into the boxand hold it while it is struck by the fingers a upon the breaker shaftor cylinder at. As the fibers are separated by the action of the fingersand rolls they fall upon the apron f, which carries them under thepress-roll e and out of the box in the form of a sheet, which passesbetween the pressrolls k k,which are borne upon by springs acting upontheirjournals. All these parts,which are inclosed within the gage box,except the rolls 7c To, operate in substantially the same manner as doesthe mechanism described in Patent No. 222,410, issued to me December 9,1879.

D is a forwarding-roll, placed between the press-rolls 7c and thefeed-roll c and provided with spikes or teeth of considerable length.This forwarding-roll is driven by a gear placed upon the shaft of roll0, marked a in Fig. 2 and indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. The sheetof cotton, passing out from the gage-box between the press-rolls k k, isrendered quite compact by them, after which it passes between theforwarding-roll D and the evener-levers O, and, being pushed forward andprevented from expanding by the toothed or spiked roll D, passes underthe roll 0. The cotton or fiber passing between the pressure-rollers kin a sheet has some parts thicker than others, and when it has beenpreviously matted by the operation of coloring or dyeing may havegreater density in one part than another when of the same thickness, andas the feed-roll a must be small to bring the beater near the nip of theroll so that it can act upon the fiber while held by the roll, and asthe flutings on that roll cannot be very deep without inj uriouslyaffecting its action upon the evener-levers and its hold upon the cottonbeing fed to the beater, it follows that when any dense masses passbetween the rolls k, or when rough fibers like wool are fed onto thelevers by those rolls, the feed-roll 0, when not aided by the spike-roll1), fails to grasp the entire sheet, or the upper and looser partsthereof, as they expand after leaving the rolls 7c, and the lap is torn,and greater unevenness in the feed to beater is caused; but with myforwarding-roll D interposed, it being provided with spikes or teeth ofconsiderable length, which will en ter among the fibers and practicallyextend entirely through the sheet of cotton being fed to the feed-roll,it will, while forwarding the sheet to thefeedroll, compress the looserparts of it, and, being close to the feed-roll 0, will deliver to it allof the sheet sufficiently compact to be taken or nipped by it andcarried forward over the evener-levers to the beater.

As the roll D is not required to be of small diameter, and not requiredto hold all parts of the sheet for the operation of the beater, as isroll 0, it can he made with teeth of much greater length than could beused on the feed roll 0, and the teeth can be placed at greaterdistances apart, so'that, except some extraordinarily large mass passesunder it, the levers will not be affected by its action, and even whensuch large mass does pass beneath it the fiber will be pushed forward bythe teeth, and the pressure will somewhat relieve the pressure of thelever in contact with the cotton against the roll 0, so that the rollwill the more readily nip and carry forward the mass, while it does notlose its control over the action of the evener-levers, nor its hold uponthe cotton being operated upon.

By this construction I provide a machine which will produce a more evenand perfect lap than can be made upon any machine using only one of thetwo systems of evening the quantity of cotton fed to the beater, knownas the Lord and Kitson, and described in Patents Nos. 52,008 and222,410, because by the action of the gage-box mechanism, madesubstantially as hereinbcfore described, and as described in Patent No.222,410,the lumps and bunches are opened and anyirregularities in thesheet of fiber as it is fed to the Lord evener will be ofsuch a naturethat they will not require sudden changes in its feed to be made as dosmall lumps or bunches when they pass over the evener-levers, and whichthe evener by its method of operation and form of construction is notadapted to make; but if the sheet is more dense or thick in one partthan in another it will become so more gradually, and when such partspass over the evener-levers there will be sufficient time during whichthe change is occurring to allow the evenerlevers to change the positionof the belt to alter the speed of the feed-roll, which is not the caseif small hard lumps be allowed to be fed to it, and which, without theaction of the gage-box mechanism, it is found practically impossiblewithout previous beatingto prevent.

\Vhen a greatly irregular sheet or one having many irregularities in itsthickness in any given length is fed over the levers ofa Lord evener theaction of the levers to shift the belt and alter the speed of thefeed-roll is sudden;

but as the parts possess considerable weight and the belt cannot besuddenly shifted on the cones, the eflect is, first, to strain themachine by atoo sudden attemptto regulate and change the feed; and,second, as the thicker portion soon passes the feed-roll the change infeed will be made at the time a thin portion of the sheet has reachedthe roll, and consequently a second irregularity in the quantity fed tothe beater will be caused by the first. All

these evils are prevented and avoided by my prcssurerolls 70 k with theforwarding-roll D,

evening-levers C, feed-roll c, and heater G, the gage-box, feed-roll,and evening-lever mechanism and beater being arranged so that the cottonpassing to the beater passes through the gage-box before coming intocontact with the evener-levers and feed-roll, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination, with a feed-roll, a pressure-surface, which pressesthe cotton against said roll, and a connecting and speed-changin gmechanism between such pressure-surface and feed roll, of a gage boxprovided with grasping-rolls, breaker-shaft having fingers thereon, andan endless apron, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the gage-box B and its mechanism, consisting ofgrasping rolls, breaker-shaft, fingers,'and an endless apron, with theevener-levers G, feed-roll c, and beater G, the evenerlevers andfeed-roll being arranged in rear of the gage-box and in front of thebeater, substantially as described.

RICHARD KITSON. Witnesses:

S. KITsoN, DAVID HALL Bron.

